812 SANDPIPER 
assigned, the Totanus or Helodromas ochropus of ornithologists, which 
most curiously differs (so far as is known) from all others of the 
group both in its osteology 1 and mode of nidification, the hen laying 
her eggs in the deserted nests of other birds—Jays, Thrushes or 
Pigeons—but nearly always at some height (from 3 to 30 feet) from 
the ground (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, pp. 529-532). This species 
occurs in England the whole year round, and is presumed to have 
bred here, though the fact has never been satisfactorily proved, and 
our knowledge of its erratic habits comes from naturalists in 
Pomerania and Sweden ; yet in the breeding-season, even in England, 
the cock-bird has been seen to rise high in air and perform a variety 
of evolutions on the wing, all the while piping what, without any 
violence of language, may be called a song. ‘This Sandpiper is 
characterized by its dark upper plumage, which contrasts strongly 
with the white of the lower part of the back and gives the bird as 
it flies away from its disturber much the look of a very large 
House-Martin. ‘The so-called Wood-Sandpiper, 7’. glareola, which, 
though much less common, is known to have bred in England, has 
a considerable resemblance to the species last mentioned, but can at 
once be distinguished, and often as it flies, by the feathers of the 
axillary plume being white barred with greyish-black, while in the 
Green Sandpiper they are greyish-black barred with white. It is 
an abundant bird in most parts of northern Europe, migrating in 
winter very far to the southward. 
Of the section Tringine the best known are the DUNLIN, the 
Kwnor and the SANDERLING (the last to be distinguished from every 
other bird of the group by wanting a hind toe), while the Purple 
Sandpiper, Zvinga striata or maritima is only somewhat less numerous, 
but is especially addicted to rocky coasts. The Curlew-Sandpiper, 
T. subarquata, appears not unfrequently, and is of especial interest 
since its nest has never been discovered, and none can point even 
approximately to any breeding-place for it, except it be, as Von 
Middendorff supposed, on the tundras of the Taimyr. The Little 
and Temminck’s Stints, 7. ménuta and 7’. temmincki, are more regular 
in their visits, and have been traced to their homes in the most 
northern part of Scandinavia and the Russian Empire, but want of 
space forbids more than this record of their names; and, for the 
same reason, no notice can be taken of many other species, chiefly 
American, belonging to this group, with the exception of 7. maculata 
or pectoralis, concerning which a few words must be said on account 
of the extraordinary faculty, first noticed by the late Mr. Edward 
Adams (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859, p. 130), possessed by the male of 
puffing out its cesophagus, after the manner of a Pouter-Pigeon. 
1 Tt possesses only a single pair of posterior ‘‘emarginations ” on its sternum, 
in this respect resembling the Rurr. Among the PLovers and Snipes other 
similarly exceptional cases may be found. 
